Clandeboye Golf club
At a glance Type of course: Parkland/heathland Length of course in yards: Dufferin: 6742; Ava: 5755 Par: Dufferin: 71; Ava: 70
This deservedly popular North Down club boasts two excellent courses, the Dufferin and the Ava. The vistas from the Dufferin Course over Belfast Lough and the Scottish Coast beyond, and Strangford Lough from the Ava Course create a perfect golfing ambience. Host of the PGA EuroPro Tour 2022, a 54 stroke play event. The Championship Dufferin Course, largely woodland/heathland in character, offers the golfer a genuine and demanding test. This highly rated course, renowned for its unforgiving opening holes, is exacting in its demands for skill, and memorable for its special features. Clandeboye hosted the Northern Ireland Masters in 2003 which Darren Clarke won.
524 yard par 5 2nd hole, rated one of the best holes in Ireland. Narrow fairways, established trees, gorse, bracken, rock close to the surface and all the other hazards of an unspoilt landscape make it a tough and varied challenge. A more sheltered course, the Ava’s user friendly fairways make it extremely popular with members and visitors alike.
The signature hole is surely the 386 yard par 4 4th where the daunting tee shot into a narrow-necked fairway embraced on both sides by gorse heather and trees sends shivers through even the most hardened veteran.
There hadn’t been a local event on the satellite tour since 2012, but that changed last year when Caldwell brought the Tour back to our shores. The NI Masters were played at Clandeboye Golf Club on its revised schedule. The event was won by Simon Thornton by two shots.
The Ava Course is the perfect partner to its sister course, exemplified by ‘Tower Gap’, the
Did you know? Clandeboye is derived from an anglicised form of the Gaelic “Clan-Aoo-Bwe” i.e. Clannaboy – coming from the name of a chieftain of the O’Neill clan.
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Best days for visitors to play: Mon, Tues, Wed and Fri. Restrictions on Dufferin Course between 12 - 1pm
Belfast
Main Map Reference E4, 09 51 Tower Road, Conlig, Newtownards, County Down, BT23 3PN Tel: +44 (0) 28 9127 1767 E-mail: office@cgc-ni.com
www.cgc-ni.com
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